How much did I spend this week? | Nov 12-18

Here’s a lil reminder: Cyber Week is coming up (tomorrow).Last year and the year before, I did a dedicated blog post on all of the savings you can make during Cyber Week. I’m going to do the same this year; it’ll contain a breakdown of what savings can be made where, along with a tonne of affiliate links so that, if you do buy something during Cyber Week, I’ll get a teeny tiny percentage. If you like reading my work and you don’t already support me via Patreon, please consider using these links! It really helps me feel as if I’m not entirely wasting my time sharing 62% of my life online.

So what did I spend my money on this week?

I mean, there aren’t all that many surprises here – I spent a lot of my money on food. I have started to be ever so slightly more aware of just how much I’m spending on food (discovering this week, for example, that I can save €2 per day on my croissant-and-coffee combo by shopping around) and I have also started thinking about how I’ve been renting in the same house for seven years. Perhaps it’s time for me to grow up and start thinking about saving for a deposit, so that I can buy before I turn 50.

There’s also the not-particularly-insignificant matter of my taxes; due to a slight Revenue mix-up this year, I think I’m going to end up owing quite a chunk when I do my tax returns (not due until October 2019 as a self-employed person, but I generally like to get mine squared away in January so that I know what to expect for the rest of the year). My point is: I need to be more frugal. I’m writing this before I do the maths on this week, so I may or may not have succeeded. Let’s see, shall we?

Monday

8.15am I live a 10-minute walk from work, which means that I inevitably get up at the last minute and leave at the last minute, leaving no time for breakfast at home. I grab an almond croissant and a coffee in my Stojo cup in Shoe Lane en route. (€5.70)

11am I asked on Instagram Stories over the weekend for recommendations for exceptionally natural eyelash extensions – my stubby eyelashes are beginning to bother me and I want to do something about them! I got a few different recommendations but ultimately decided to try iGlow, in no small part because of Laura’s Views! I use her code and get €10 off my order. (€49)

12.30pm I have a lunch meeting – at least, according to my WhatsApps, although now, five days later, I cannot for the life of me remember where it was, or with whom. Either way I didn’t pay!

1.30pm I grab a Diet Coke from Spar on my way back to the office. I am full-on totally addicted to Diet Coke again, after a good two years off. I’m currently drinking at least one, if not two, cans per day. I do believe that drinking fizzy drinks, Diet or otherwise, causes an insulin spike (your body thinks you’re drinking sugar) and then causes you to crave more sugar, but clearly I don’t care because Diet Coke is so delicious. (€1.25)

6pm I’m home and, once again, I’ve neglected to take anything out of the freezer so I order Boojum from Deliveroo. €13.35

Daily total: €69.30

Tuesday

8.15am Same morning routine – coffee and a croissant at Shoe Lane. (€5.70)

1pm I go to lunch with a friend from work who’s just started; I knew her before working at my current job (where I’m social media co-ordinator for the Anthony Nicholas Group – Fields the Jeweller and Fraser Hart) so we go out for a catch-up in Póg. I have the hot pot and she has a sandwich; I pay. (€18)

1.55pm Diet Coke + chocolate in Spar. I really, really need to get over my obsession with dessert after every meal. (€2.65)

6pm On the way home, I go into Super Valu and pick up some bits for dinner. I’ve taken chicken out of the freezer (go me!) so I grill it and have it with Strong Roots sweet potato fries and spinach bites, which were on offer – 3 for €10 – today. I also get some almond milk for porridge in the mornings (lol). (€16.39)

Daily total: €42.74

Wednesday

7.55am A variety in my morning routine! Today I decide to try the mango chia pudding in Shoe Lane (it’s delicious) to go with my Americano. I’m in work a bit early because I’m going to a lunch meeting with ByBiehl, a new jewellery brand launching in Ireland. (€5.45)

12.30pm I meet my friend Simone and we share a taxi to Capel St, for lunch in Brother Hubbard. I pay – she gets the return leg. Lunch is so gorgeous; the table is set up so beautifully (pictured!) with incredible flowers, candles and gold plate warmers, and the jewellery itself is stunning. I’m given a Beautiful World pendant in my goodie bag, which is so generous. I’m devastated I can’t stay for dessert; I have to leg it after an hour and 45 minutes as I’ve already taken an extra-long lunch, but I’m planning on staying late in work to make up for it. (€9.80)

6pm I’m meeting a friend at Marks & Spencer on Grafton St for their annual Christmas food event. It’s a really lovely evening; loads of canapés and drinks and tables laid out to show off their cheese and wines; biscuits; chocolates; savoury offerings; and foodie Christmas gift ideas. We even get to decorate our own chocolate Christmas tree, which we take home along with some shortbread biscuits, truffle mayonnaise, brandy snaps, chocolate truffles and beef wellington-flavoured crisps. [Five days later: everything has been devoured.]

8pm I get the Luas home; when I get there I realise I need to top up my Leap. I haven’t been using it half as much now that I walk to work, but it’s always safer to have money on it as I so rarely carry cash any more. (€20)

Daily total: €35.25

Thursday

8am I skip breakfast and head straight to work; with Cyber Week next week, we’ve loads of special offers coming and I need to get ahead of my social media scheduling for the week. I head down to the coffee machine in the office; it’s a discretionary €1 per coffee and, as I never have cash, I owe it a wad so I throw in cash I have leftover from yesterday. (€14)

12.45pm I meet my Mum for lunch in Bread41. She’s going to the US tomorrow to visit my sister so it’s the last time I’ll see her for a fortnight or so. I order the salad and a side of bread, plus an Americano. They do the most incredible cinnamon rolls too, but I resist… I’m so excited to hear about my sister’s reaction. My Mum’s going over to surprise her and the boys (she has four!) and I can’t wait to hear all about it! (€9.75)

1.30pm We drop into Sweeney O’Rourke on the way back to the office; Mum wants to buy a new “crumber” (correct name unknown) for making crumble. I pick up a little copper plant pot and a silicone oven glove. She pays. I then drop into Spar for my Diet Coke fix before I get back to the office. (€1.25)

6.30pm As predicted, it’s a late one in the office! We usually finish at 5pm but more than half of us stay late, clearly panicking about the Cyber Week frenzy. I get home at around 7pm and order Bombay Pantry, while simultaneously wondering why I’m not thin. (€21.40)

Daily total: €46.40

Friday

8am Today’s a short day – we finish at 2pm – but I’ve so much to do I want to go in a bit early. I go a different way to my usual route and grab a croissant and a coffee in McCabe’s – more than €2 cheaper than my Shoe Lane habit! The croissant isn’t quite as good but still, it’s a pretty big saving! (€3.60)

11am Two regular payments come out of my account – for Facebook advertising which I’d totally forgotten about, and I pay €50 to my dog walker. He’s been coming over every day for the past two weeks and bringing Coileán for some off-lead time in the park. It’s honestly such a weight off my mind; working full-time and owning a dog is such a guilt-fest, but knowing someone’s bringing her out and letting her run around is amazing. (€62.30)

2.20pm I run into Siopaella on my way home to see if I have any “winnings” from my regular drop-offs. I have €76! Hurrah! That’s particularly handy as it means I can use the cash to pay for my fortnightly Gelish manicure at Tropical Popical. (€35)

4pm After my nails I have to leg it home to do some more work, but not before I pop into Marks & Spencer to try on a dress I saw the other day, with a view to wearing it to a wedding. In the end, I buy three dresses, because I clearly can’t control myself. [At the time of writing this diary, I’m planning on bringing at least one, if not two, of the dresses back, but as I have yet to do so I’ll leave the total as it is!] (€177.60)

5pm I go home and, on the way, pick up some bits from the post office: a painting I ordered last week by an Irish artist, Ronan Dillon; and my H&M x Moschino order, which I made in a panic and will be returning (I bought the teddy bear iPhone case and the condom earrings, and no, I don’t even use an iPhone).

6pm Back out I go; I have some bits to drop to the St Vincent de Paul shop near my house (“drop things at secondhand shop” is nearly always an item on my to-do list, and always one I put off!) and then I head back to M&S to pick up some foodie bits for dinner: steak and veggies and focaccia, among other things. Yum. (€28.07)

Daily total: €306.57

Saturday

3pm I get out of bed. Yes, really. I don’t know what came over me today; I just slept for hours. I was genuinely, truly asleep until 3pm, with the odd toilet break. When I wake up I feel sluggish and annoyed with myself. I’ve wasted the day!

3.30pm Head to Super Valu to pick up some eggs for lunch / late breakfast. I bring the poor dog, who seems relieved – I suspect she was worried I’d never get up again. (€2.30)

6pm I spent the evening watching Afflictedon Netflix, which is a fascinating docu-series focusing on people with invisible illnesses. It is 100% biased on the side of “these people are making up their illnesses”, but it’s one of those very voyeuristic reality TV type shows that’s difficult not to binge watch. When I finish, I read a whole load of articles by those very people about how hurt and distraught they are by how the documentary turned out and I feel guilty.

7pm I cook some little canapés – cheesy bites and steak pies – that I bought in M&S yesterday and eat them in front of Netflix. This is living.

Daily total: €2.30

Sunday

11am Today I get up at a slightly more reasonable time, and make breakfast consisting of some breakfasty bits I had in the fridge. I hang out a wash and answer some emails, spend some time on Pinterest (which I rarely do any more but always really enjoy). I really want to paint the rooms in my house; they’re all painted this kind of warm buttercup / cream colour that I hate. I just want them all to be white! But I hate painting and don’t want to spend €500 on a painter, so I’m stuck. Middle-class problems, wha?

4pm I take a nap. I’ve had it drummed into me from an early age that one should do things at the weekend. You can’t just stay in bed all day! as my Mother would say. Despite yesterday’s feeling that I’d wasted the day, I now feel like there’s been something so nice about this very slow, lazy weekend; I think I needed it. And I’m trying to learn to accept the fact that it’s okay not to be busy. It’s okay not to rush around all day “getting shit done”. It’s okay if you’re not someone who wants to “hustle” or “grind” all day long (heaven preserve me). You get to decide how to live your own life. I know, I’m profound.

6.20pm I meet my friends Liam and Yavar in the Light House Cinema for a screening of 9 to 5, which I have never seen. (There’s a blog post in important films I’ve never seen, which I promise I will write one day and o, ye shall be riveted!